Little bit of a breakthrough in the glow-in-the-dark world.

A company has come up with a new kind of glow-in-the-dark paint.  What’s special about it is this: it doesn’t need light to "charge", AND the glow will last for 12 years before it fades (12 years is the "half-life").

The light is not strong — don’t expect it to replace light bulbs.  It puts out about as much radience as those glow-in-the-dark sticks.  But being in paint, you can cover a wide area.  The downside is that you can’t turn it off, so I wouldn’t recommend painting your walls with the stuff.  It can (and probably will) be used in fabrics as well — it’s (supposedly) non-toxic and safe.

I can see it as being practical for, say, stop signs.  And graffiti artists will have a field day.

So it’s time for all of us to learn a new word: "litroenergy".

You can read more about it here.